by Dan Wingreen
Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to mind.
Elias very quickly lost track of time again, only realizing there was more to the world than lips and tongues and sharp, unexpectedly pleasant yanks when his knees hit the back of something and he fell onto what he identified a moment later as a bed.
When did we make our way into the bedroom?
His question was almost immediately ignored as he belatedly realized exactly why he was on a bed in the first place.
Oh. He swallowed roughly as he looked up at the Prince standing between his knees at the foot of the bed. I'd rather forgotten there was more to this.
Slowly, the Dark Prince removed his outer robe and tossed it away. His eyes never left Elias's as he, equally slowly, untied the laces of his tunic, baring his perfect porcelain skin an inch at a time. Elias almost snapped at him for wasting time slowly revealing something Elias had already seen and wasn't particularly impressed with, but he was suddenly, unaccountably, nervous, and so welcomed the delay.
By the time the Prince's tunic joined the robe, however, he seemed to notice something was off.
"Am I not holding your interest, Elias?" His tone was teasing, but Elias could tell the idea truly bothered the Prince.
Elias sighed. "You are, as always, the most interesting thing in the room," Elias said truthfully.
The Prince frowned. "Then why are you barely looking at me? Most people can't take their eyes off of me when I'm without a shirt."
Elias snorted. "So arrogant," he muttered. "Highness—" He frowned as something occurred to him. "Shouldn't I be allowed to call you by your proper name, since we're now engaged?"
"I wondered when this would come up." The Prince smiled sadly. "Alas, as much as I would love to hear you call out my name in the throes of passion, I'm afraid it's a state secret."
"Your name is a state secret?" Elias asked flatly. "Like your supposed immortality."
The Prince smirked. "You scoff but if it turns out I was telling the truth I'm going to rub it in for the rest of our incredibly long lives."
"Highness."
The Prince sighed. "Oh, all right, yes. My name is my father's as well, and it's illegal to speak his name aloud outside the borders of Mournhelm. Thus, it's equally illegal to speak mine."
"Truly?" Elias asked, suddenly interested in this new bit of Mournhelmian trivia.
The Prince rolled his eyes. "Yes. Now stop avoiding my question, why do you refuse to look at me?"
Elias sighed. "It has nothing to do with finding you unappealing, although you should know, I don't particularly care much for your appearance one way or another." At the Prince's utterly flabbergasted expression, Elias smiled and elaborated. "As odd as this may seem to one as vain as you, I'm not attracted to you for your looks. I'm attracted to your expressions and emotions, to the way you make me feel and the way I can tell how I make you feel in return. Your looks are meaningless, an outer shell housing everything about you that is truly attractive. I would want you as much as I do if you were as obese as Baron Connolly, or if you were as malnourished as me."
The Prince visibly shuddered, most likely at the thought of being obese. "You…are absolutely remarkable, my dear. And, while I could go into detail about how all of this makes me feel, including a very emotional and somewhat pathetic tale about how I value my outward appearance as much as I do because I hold everything else about me in such little value, I believe I will save the fictional melodramatic stories for my autobiography and ask you again to answer my question, because I find myself even more confused now."
Elias forced himself not to look away. "I…" He sighed again. "I'm… I find myself somewhat…"
The Prince's eyes widened. "Elias…are you scared?"
"I am not scared," Elias snapped. "Just somewhat…apprehensive."
"Of course," the Prince murmured. "You've never done this before, have you?"
"Is…that a problem?" Elias asked, chewing his lip nervously before realizing what he was doing and clamping his jaw shut.
The Prince's smile was positively predatory. "Not at all. In fact, I love knowing no one has ever touched you like this before, and that no one else ever will." He gently squeezed Elias's knee. "That being said, I am much more patient than I make myself out to be. If at any time you wish to stop, even if that time is now, just say so and I will. I'm not going to push for more than you're willing to give."
Elias's breath hitched. This was what he was attracted to. The Dark Prince's courtesy and caring, even to the point of denying himself an act that he seemed to take great pleasure indulging in.
"I don't want to stop," Elias said softly. "I don't even know why I'm so nervous. I liked what we were doing before, and I want more…"
The Prince's smile gentled. "It's your first time, Elias. Everyone is nervous about their first time. Even me. And as many partners as I've had since then, I still can't look back on that first without feeling a ghostly echo of my own apprehension." The Prince's eyes widened and he winced. "My apologies, my dear. Talking about my past…incidents while my fiancé is in my bed is tasteless of me."
"It doesn't bother me," Elias said..
The Prince looked equally relieved and surprised. "Truly?"
Elias smiled. "Yes. The act of sex itself means very little to me, Highness, if there is no feeling attached. If I cared anything for base physical pleasure, I would have sought it out on my own long before now." His smile widened at the way the Prince's expression darkened. "Since you tell me you haven't felt about anyone else before the way you feel about me, I don't care how many people you've slept with."
After all, the only reason he'd been jealous of Elladora—and he could admit it was jealousy now—was because she was the only other person who got to see a part of the true Prince Elias wanted all for himself.
"Although," he added, "this doesn't mean I will allow you to cheat on me."
"Of course not!" The Prince scowled. "I am perfectly capable, and eager, to remain monogamous."
"Good," Elias said, his nerves disappearing as if they'd never been. "Then I expect you to use all of your vast experience to make this as pleasurable for me as possible."
The Dark Prince blinked, seemingly unable to decide how to react. "Really?"
"Yes." Elias nodded. "And I will be critiquing your performance at the end of the night so—"
That was as far as he got before the Prince lunged at him, pushing him into the bed before attacking his mouth.
Through a flurry of kisses and bites and moans, the Dark Prince managed to simultaneously move them further up the bed and get them both out of their clothes. While Elias enjoyed the new sensation of skin on skin, he was, however, getting slightly bored with the kissing. It wasn't anything they hadn't done before, and he'd been looking forward—
The Prince slid his hand up Elias's stomach in a soft caress, before coming to his chest and tweaking one of his nipples. Elias thrashed, moaning into the Prince's mouth.
Ah! Th-that's something new…
This new bit of play renewed Elias's interest in kissing, and it wasn't until sometime later that they broke apart, both panting slightly. Elias flushed as the Dark Prince unabashedly studied his naked body. He knew he wasn't much to look at; even filling out slightly since the Prince had started forcing him to eat full meals hadn't changed the fact he was short and scrawny, with too many hard, bony angles and not enough muscle or definition. Yet the Prince seemed anything but repulsed.
"Absolutely beautiful," he murmured. Before Elias could decide between a scoff or a softly muttered thanks, the Prince's hand reversed its earlier journey and grabbed the base of Elias's erection. If Elias thought having his nipples played with was bliss, he had no words for the feelings caused by having the Prince's hand there. "Especially this."
The Dark Prince slowly started to stroke, and that was all it took for Elias to come undone. He screamed as he spent all over his stomach and chest.
"Well, if I didn't already know you were a vir
gin…" The Dark Prince smirked.
Elias couldn't even summon the will to glare. Especially not while the Prince was running his fingers through the small pool of semen in the hollow under his sternum, and definitely not when he gathered some up on his fingers and licked them clean.
"Delicious," the Prince said, his eyes gleaming in the dimly lit room. "Very sweet. Must be all the cake I made you eat."
Elias recovered quickly, in every sense of the word, his straining arousal barely even softening. He looked curiously at the mess on his chest, then shrugged mentally, scooped some up and brought his fingers to his mouth. The Dark Prince let out a small, somewhat pained moan as Elias sucked the seed off his fingers. He swirled it around in his mouth for a moment, getting a feel for the taste, before swallowing.
"It is sweet," Elias agreed.
The Prince closed his eyes briefly and took a deep, shuddering breath. "Elias, you must warn me when you're going to do something like that, else I might spend before this goes any further."
"Hmm?" Elias murmured, somewhat distracted as he cleaned off his chest in a similar manner.
The Dark Prince's eyes opened, and he groaned again. "You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"
Elias smirked. "Why ever would I do that?"
The Prince glared at Elias, but instead of saying anything he crawled up the bed and pulled the scholar into a violent kiss, moaning loudly when he discovered Elias hadn't been swallowing all of what he'd been gathering off his chest.
They had a lot of fun getting Elias clean after that.
"I'm ready," Elias said some time later as he lay in the center of the bed, his body glistening with sweat and saliva as he panted in desperation.
"Are you sure?" the Prince asked, kneeling on the bed by Elias's feet.
"Yes." Elias flushed as he spread his legs to emphasize his point, his eyes drawn to the Prince's impossibly hard arousal. It was the first time he'd gotten a good look at it that night and he was startled by how large it was. Almost obscenely so, actually, compared to the Prince's tall but slim frame. He recalled what the Prince once said, about magically enhancing his body, and couldn't help but be curious.
"Is that magical as well?" he asked, pointing between the Prince's legs.
The Prince grinned. "I'd certainly like to think so."
Elias rolled his eyes. "I meant, did you use magic to change your…dimensions? Or is that its natural size?"
"Would you think less of me if I did?" the Prince asked.
"It would be impossible for me to think less of you."
The Prince raised an eyebrow, seeming unsure of how to react, until the scholar smirked. He laughed, then attacked Elias with another kiss. A few minutes later they broke apart, the Prince's erection brushing against the smooth skin under Elias's sac.
"Do you trust me?" the Prince asked, suddenly serious.
"Yes," Elias answered without the slightest hesitation.
The Prince's entire face softened for a moment, and while Elias's heart fluttered, the rest of him was somewhat impatient to experience carnal bliss. To the Prince's credit, he refocused quickly. His eyes flashed purple, and Elias gasped as he felt a strange stretching sensation between his legs, along with an oily, unfamiliar wetness. He felt the length rubbing against him become similarly slick.
It wouldn't be until much, much later he realized the Prince never answered his question.
"Many and varied are the uses of magic, Elias," the Prince said with a smirk.
"A—" Elias swallowed. "As you say."
The Dark Prince kissed him again before sitting back on his heels and lightly running his fingers over Elias's thighs. Elias shuddered at the barely there touch and unconsciously spread his legs wider.
"Yes." The Prince purred. "You're definitely ready."
Finally!
Elias started to turn over onto his stomach—he did have some idea how this was supposed to work—but the Prince grabbed his shoulder, holding him in place.
"What are you doing?" Elias frowned.
"My dear, if you think you're going to be looking at anything but my face while you lose your virginity, then you aren't nearly as intelligent as I thought you were."
"Oh…" A warmth, which had nothing to do with desire, spread throughout his body. "I rather like the way that sounds."
The Prince smiled. "Then you're going to love this."
He leaned forward, his length poking Elias's sac once more before sliding downwards and pressing against his opening. Elias clenched his jaw, expecting pain, but the Prince's spell must have worked perfectly, because the Prince slipped inside of him with little resistance. Elias gasped. He could only feel a small bit of it inside of him, but it felt…
Well.
He didn't think a word had been invented to explain how much he liked it.
"More!" He hissed.
Although at least one came rather close.
Without hesitation, the Dark Prince gave Elias exactly what he asked for. Elias keened as the Prince slammed into him. He grabbed at the Prince's shoulders, unsure if he was bracing himself or trying to pull the Prince closer. Either way, the Prince stayed where he was, looking into Elias's eyes as he thrust inside of him. Elias's own length brushed against the Prince's stomach, and, if he hadn't just spent, even so light a touch would have been enough to send him over the edge. As it was, he was frustratingly unable to reach completion.
Then the Prince changed the angle of his hips and hit something inside Elias—prostate, the small part of him still capable of rational though provided—and, with a scream, he erupted between them. The Dark Prince groaned but never once interrupted his rhythm.
"Don't close your eyes," the Prince demanded. "That's right, look at me. Only me. Every time you think of tonight I want my face to be the first thing you think of. You're so perfect, and I'm the only one who will ever see you like this. You're mine, Elias. So beautiful and mine. My Elias. All mine."
He went on in a similar manner for some time, hitting Elias's prostate with almost every thrust, every word, and Elias felt himself getting hard again. But it wasn't enough. Elias ground his teeth in frustration.
"Highness!" He snapped, glaring at the Prince. "Shut. Up. And. Fuck. Me!"
The Dark Prince's eyes widened as Elias swore, and he moaned loudly as he came. Elias had a brief flash of smugness—I did that—before he remembered he still needed release. As the Prince shuddered above him, Elias shoved his hand between their bodies, grabbed his aching hardness, and worked himself until he spilled again just as the Prince collapsed onto the bed beside him. They were sticky and sweaty and covered in more fluids than Elias was comfortable contemplating, but he didn't hesitate in cuddling up to the Prince and resting his head on the other man's chest.
As messy as he was, he didn't think he'd ever been more content.
"Rest, my dear," the Prince said, sounding barely awake himself. "And gather your strength, because I'm nowhere near done with you yet."
Elias closed his eyes and smiled.
He rather liked the sound of that.
Chapter 31
The last person Elias expected to find waiting for him in the Dark Prince's rooms the following evening was Chappy.
Elias had been very much looking forward to spending a quiet night with the Prince, their first in days that had nothing to do with investigations or murder or impossible problems. He had also, if he wanted to be completely honest about the matter, been greatly looking forward to continuing certain activities which had begun earlier in the morning. Although, those were really just a continuation of very similar activities which had stopped and started an uncountable number of times during the previous evening and night, but since the necessary other half of those activities was absent…
Well. There obviously wasn't going to be any further continuation.
"Didn't His Highness fire you last night?"
Elias felt justified in being rude.
"Never mind. Get out."
E
minently justified.
"Perhaps," Chappy said placidly, "sir would like to know why I'm here, before he orders me to leave?"
Elias scowled. "No. No I would not." He paused, frowning at the Prince-less room. "Where is the Dark Prince?"
"Sir has stumbled upon the topic of conversation I wished to bring up even without asking, truly an impressive feat. One might almost say it was fate at work."
Although Chappy's tone never changed, Elias was left with the distinct feeling of being mocked.
"Answer my question," he said, crossing his arms.
"The Prince is out," Chappy said, surprising Elias by answering at all. He had been expecting a deflection, although why he would expect anything other than straightforwardness from the almost painfully straightforward chaperone he didn't know. "A late summons from the King, I believe. A most fortunate happenstance, since it leaves us enough time for a conversation long overdue."
Elias frowned again. "Why would the King summon him after sundown?"
"I would not presume to know the mind of a king," Chappy said, his words laced with an irony as thick as it was baffling. "However, I can assure you the Prince didn't look worried or afraid as he left, so I doubt he was summoned for anything you need to be concerned about."
There were many things Elias could have said then, but for some reason he found himself trusting the strange little man's words, and so only asked, "Were you watching the Prince's rooms, waiting for him to leave?"
"Yes," Chappy said.
"Why?"
"How else would I know if he left?"
"Why would you need to know when the Prince left?"
Chappy gave him a reproachful look. "To know if we could have our conversation or not. Was that not obvious?"
Elias ignored the—possible—jab and narrowed his eyes. "Are you stalking the Dark Prince."